Romeo and Juliet
by Little Illy
Summary: Angel helps Buffy with her homework, reading Romeo and Juliet.


**Romeo and Juliet**  
  
A/N: Set just before "The Prom" in the happy (but doomed) Bangel times of S3. Buffy is a little bit uneducated in the works of Shakespeare, but it's more fun that way. ) Fun, fluff and Shakespeare abound!   
  
I'm looking for other Btvs (or Angel) Shakespeare rip-offs, so if you know of any (even vaguely Shakespearian) then tell me kay?   
  
Disclaimer: Btvs and all of that belong to ME and God (aka Joss). "Romeo and Juliet" obviously belongs to Shakespeare, and occasionally to young dramatic teenagers who fancy they are in the middle of the greatest love story of all time. Obviously big chunks of this are taken directly from the play. I've only included the bits relevant to the B/A story.  
  
"Ouch." Buffy groaned as Angel pulled his jacket of her to inspect her injured arm.  
  
"There's a bit of a bruise, but it's not swollen." He said matter-of-factly, "With your healing it'll be gone by tomorrow."   
  
Buffy pouted "Look again, it's clearly broken or maimed or something."   
  
Angel kissed her shoulder just above the offending injury. "It's fine."   
  
"Kisses make it better." She smiled cheekily at him.  
  
Angel kissed her shoulder again, this time lingering on her soft skin. "Still hurt?"  
  
"A little." She decided. "Maybe one more kiss."  
  
Angel gave her two more kisses and pulled her close. She rested her head against his chest as he stroked her hair. "You're such a faker." He said. "There's hardly even a scratch. We had to come home to inspect a scratch?"  
  
Buffy smiled, tangling her fingers in his, and pulling both their arms around her waist. "It was worse before, fast healing, you know. Plus, this is nicer than patrolling isn't it?" As the familiar comfort of Buffy's room numbed his senses, Angel had to agree it was nice.  
  
Buffy curled up on the bed, her arms around Mr Gordo the pig and her head on Angel's chest. She took small breaths, her little lungs not taking in much. Every time she exhaled a flurry of warmth washed across her chest and over Angel's arms wrapped around her waist. She closed her eyes and listened to the silence of being with him. No breath. No sound of air passing through his lungs, no rise and fall of his chest. No heartbeat, no equal thumping under her ear. Sometimes he was cold, like ice, but in Buffy's soft room, pressed against her, he was warm. "You're warm." She said, speaking her thoughts aloud.  
  
"It's you." Angel said, "It's you're warmth. You give it to me. I'm cold inside, but you warm me up."  
  
Buffy yawned, "Whatever, it's nice."  
  
Angel laughed, marvelling at her simple answer. Sometimes Buffy had wisdom beyond her years and the weight of the world on her shoulders, and sometimes she was just a little girl with a simple view of life, completely missing the deeper meaning. "It is nice." Angel agreed.  
  
Buffy flung Mr Gordo across the room with a groan "Ugh. I've got some English play study tomorrow." She sighed.  
  
"Which play?" Angel asked.  
  
"'Romeo and Juliet'" She said, "Stupid classics. Why can't they just talk normally? It's always 'Art thou well milady?' or rhyming till it makes no sense."  
  
"Because you always make perfect sense." Angel accused "What sort of a word is 'wiggins'?"  
  
"It's a great word." She defended her speech indignantly "Better than "where fore". And what's with the tights? Tights on guys are so not cool."  
  
"It was fashion." Angel said  
  
"Some fashion." Buffy muttered, "I've never seen that in Cosmogirl."   
  
Angel slipped out from under Buffy and paced over to her desk. He picked up 'Romeo and Juliet' and flipped through the pages. "Did you like it?" he asked.  
  
"Huh? Oh, I didn't read it."  
  
"I thought you had a test on this tomorrow." Angel said.  
  
"I do, but it's boring and old wordish." Buffy shrugged, "I'll do alright, I've seen the movie. Not like I'm an A student in English anyway."  
  
"I could help you." Angel said, "I used to know a poet, a fairly bad poet actually, but he worshiped Shakespeare."  
  
Buffy sat up excited, "Would you read it to me?" she asked.  
  
Angel shrugged, "Ok, I'll read a little. Just 'til I have to go."   
  
Buffy clapped her hands gleefully as Angel sat down on the bed again. She shuffled under the covers, put her head on his chest and took a deep breath in and out, preparing herself for story time. "Ok, ready. Go."  
  
"Where do I start?" He asked.  
  
"The beginning!" She cried, "Duh!"  
  
Angel opening the book, and began to read "Two houses..."  
  
_/both alike in dignity __  
__In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, __  
__From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, __  
__Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. __  
__From forth the fatal loins of these two foes __  
__A pair of star crossed lovers take their life./_  
  
"Spooky." Buffy said. "Skip to the good bit."  
  
Angel put the book down, "What's the good bit?"  
  
"The loveyness!" Buffy exclaimed.  
  
"Um... like 'The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love'?" Angel read.  
  
Buffy shivered, "No, that's sad and scary. The good bit is when they make out. Get to the smoochies."  
  
Angel sighed, "Ok, well Romeo, a Montague-"  
  
"A what?" she interrupted "Is that a football team or something?"   
  
"No! It's his name." Angel said, "I thought you said you knew this. What was the movie like?"  
  
Buffy shrugged, "I dunno. Some girl got to smooch Leanordo De Caprio. And I think they did 'it' because there was a bedroom scene. And at the end everyone got really sad, and my mum was crying. I knew I should have gone without her."  
  
"Well ok." Angel continued bravely in the face of ditzy ignorance "There's a bit more to it than that. As I was reading the prologue, the Montagues and the Capulets have been fighting for years. Romeo is a Montague and Juliet is a Capulet, so they should be enemies. Romeo decides to go to the Capulets party."  
  
"Uh-oh." Buffy said, "College boys' party."  
  
"Or something." Angel agreed "Romeo and his friends go in disguise, so no one knows there are Montagues at the Capulet's party and there he meets Juliet."  
  
"Yay! The good bit!"  
  
"Yes. The good bit."  
  
_/Oh she doth teach the torches to burn bright! __  
__It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night __  
__Like a jewel in an Ethiope's ear; __  
__Beauty to rich for use, for earth too dear! __  
__So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows, __  
__As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows. __  
__The measure done, I'll watch her place of stand, __  
__And touching hers, make blessed my rude hand. __  
__Did my heart love till now? Forswear it sight! __  
__For ne'er saw true beauty until this night./_  
  
"Wow," Buffy sighed "She must be beautiful."  
  
Angel fondly ran a hand through Buffy's hair, "She is." He continued with a sigh, "So, Romeo goes to Juliet, and they share a secret kiss. Only after it's too late do they discover the others identity."  
  
"But they can't fall in love!" Buffy said dramatically, "They're enemies!"  
  
"Love is like that." Angel smiled. "Romeo is madly in love with Juliet, and she laments that she feels the same."  
  
_/My only love sprung from my only hate! __  
__Too early known, and known too late! __  
__Prodigious birth of love it is to me, __  
__That I must love a loathed enemy/__  
_  
"So that night," Angel said, flipping the pages to find the next 'good bit' "Romeo goes to find Juliet, and even though he'd be killed if he was found, he sneaks into the Capulet's garden and sits below Juliet's window."  
  
_/But soft, what light through yonder window breaks, __  
__It is the east, and Juliet is the sun/_  
  
Angel smiled sadly down at the girl in his arms, his sunshine. "Juliet doesn't know that Romeo is listening, and she professes her love for him, despite his name and family which are her enemy."   
  
_/What's Montague? It is not hand, nor foot, __  
__Nor arm, nor face, not any other part __  
__Belonging to a man. O, be some other name! __  
__What's in a name? That which we call a rose __  
__by any other name would smell as sweet/_  
  
"See what I mean." Buffy complained, "It's all old wordy. None of that makes sense!"  
  
"Juliet is saying that just because Romeo is a Montague, doesn't mean he's a bad person." Angel explained "That being a Montague is just a title, it's got nothing to do with who he is inside. She loves him regardless of his name."  
  
"Oh," Buffy said, "Oh! Awww!" She added to Angel's amusement. She kissed his smiling lips. "It's so romantic." She said, lingering close to his nose. "I don't know why people call this a tragedy."  
  
"It's because they die Buffy." Angel said.  
  
"What?!" Buffy cried pushing herself up. "How? What happens!"  
  
"Well, the next day Romeo and Juliet get married in secret." Angel went on, skipping the next few scenes.  
  
"After knowing each other for like 24 hours?!" Buffy cried aghast "Talk about rushing things!"  
  
"They're in love." Angel shrugged, "Plus, it would make the play to long if they waited for a few years, tried living together first. So, just after they get married Romeo gets in a fight and kills Juliet's cousin."  
  
Buffy looked aghast, "What a jerk!"  
  
"He was provoked," Angel defended, "But as punishment, he's banished from the city."  
  
Buffy pouted "What a jip. Just 'cause he killed a guy? So, he and Juliet skip town and live happily ever after in Mexico right?"   
  
"Well not quite." Angel said, "Romeo goes to see Juliet and they spend one last night together."  
  
"A night of passion?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Yes." Angel said uncomfortably, "A night of passion."  
  
_/Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night, __  
__That runaway's eyes may wink and Romeo __  
__Leap to these arms untalk'd of and unseen. __  
__Lovers can see to do their amorous rites __  
__by their own beauties; or, if love be blind, __  
__It best agrees with night. Come civil night./_  
  
"Yay! Bring on the night." Buffy said.  
  
"Unfortunately, it doesn't last." Angel sighed, looking nervously over at the window though he knew sunrise was hours away. His time here was short, and it would be over too soon.  
  
_/Juliet: Wilt thou be gone? It is not near day: __  
__It was the knighting gale, and not the lark, __  
__That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear; __  
__nightly she sings on yon pomegranate-tree: __  
__Believe me, love, it was the nightingale __  
  
__Romeo: It was the lark, the herald of the mour, __  
__No nightingale: look, love, what envious streaks __  
__Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east: __  
__Nights candles are burnt out, and jocund day __  
__Stands tip toe on the misty mountain tops. __  
__I must be gone and live, or stay and die./_  
  
"No, not yet." Buffy mumbled.  
  
"He has to go." Angel replied softly, "He wants to stay more than anything, but he can't."  
  
"Why doesn't Juliet go too?" Buffy asked. "If Romeo's banished she should go with him. She wouldn't want to live without him."   
  
"That's not fair to her." Angel said, "She can't just leave her life."   
  
"He is her life." Buffy insisted.  
  
"What about her friends and her family?" Angel reminded her.  
  
"They could visit on weekends." Buffy suggested lamely.  
  
Angel pressed his hand on Buffy's forehead, smoothing away the worry lines forming. "She shouldn't suffer for his sins."  
  
Buffy looked pleadingly at him. "She'll suffer more without him."   
  
"For a while. But she'll still live her life, which is what Romeo wants." He held her gaze for a moment, before picking up the book again. "The very same morning Romeo leaves, Juliet's parents arrange for her to marry count Paris."  
  
"She's already married." Buffy said, "Isn't that a sin?"  
  
Angel nodded, "Well Juliet doesn't want to marry Paris because she's in love with Romeo. She goes to see the friar who married them, and he comes up with a plan. On the day of her wedding, Juliet will drink a potion which will make her seem dead. Her family will leave her in the Capulets tomb, because they didn't always bury people back then. Meanwhile, the Friar will tell Romeo his plan. Romeo will come back, and sneak into the tomb just as Juliet wakes up. Then Romeo will take Juliet back to Mantua with him."  
  
"Sounds like a pretty bad plan." Buffy scoffed.  
  
"It is." Angel agreed. "Juliet drinks the potion and is left to wake later in Romeo's arms. However, Romeo doesn't get the Friar's message, and instead thinks Juliet is dead."  
  
Buffy made a frightened mumble of a cry, and grabbed hold of Angel's sleeve. "Why are they making us read scary books for school? It should be illegal."  
  
"Romeo rushes back to Verona, determined not to live with out Juliet." Angel continued, "But on his way, he stops by an apothecary."   
  
"What do they do?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Sell poison." Angel answered gravely.  
  
_/O my love! My wife! __  
__Death, that hath suck'd the honey from thy breath, __  
__Hath no power yet upon thy beauty: __  
__Thou art not conquer'd: Beauty yet __  
__Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks, __  
__And death's pale flag is not yet advanced there/_  
  
"He thinks she's dead." Buffy muttered sadly. "But she's still beautiful."  
  
"Romeo can't think of living without her." Angel continued to read the play's last act.  
  
_/Eyes look your last! __  
__Arms, take your last embrace! And lips, O you __  
__The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss __  
__A dateless bargain to engrossing death... __  
__Thus with a kiss- /_  
  
"Stop." Buffy sniffed. "I don't want to hear any more."  
  
Angel put down the book and kissed her head "It's just a story." He whispered, "It's not..." he faltered, 'us' unspoken on his lips.  
  
"I don't care. It's an awful story," Buffy said. "Love stories have happy endings. Lovers don't die."  
  
Angel wrapped his arms around her so tightly had she not been abnormally strong she might have cried out. "They do have happy endings." He insisted.  
  
"Does this one?" Buffy asked, a few glistening tears slipping down her cheeks and soaking into Angel's shoulder.  
  
"Yes." Angel patted her hair, he couldn't stand to see her sad. The feel of her shaking form in his arms tore at his silent heart. "Just as Romeo is about to drink the poison, Juliet wakes up. The lovers are reunited and after 'smooching' in the graveyard, they both run away to Mantua and live happily ever after."  
  
"That's not true." Buffy whispered. "I know they die. It's the most tragic love story of all time. Every one knows it ends with dying."   
  
"This version is special." Angel said, holding up the Sunnydale High text book. "Just this once, it all turns out okay."  
  
"Do you promise?" Buffy whispered.  
  
"Yes. I promise. No parting, no dieing, happily ever after." He lied.  
  
"Good." Buffy said.  
  
They talked no more of Romeo and Juliet, or of anything. The bedroom was silent. Except for the sound of Buffy's breathing in and out, warming the air around her, and the rhythmic thumping of her heart. Angel listened, holding Buffy in his arms as heat spilled into him and warmed his chest. In his embrace she fell asleep, and he kept a hold of her. As the first faint rays of dawn crept into Sunnydale, Angel pulled himself away from Buffy, and stood up to go.   
  
"Goodnight," He whispered, "Parting is such sweet sorrow." He quickly slipped out the window and headed home before the sun could rise and burn him.  
  
_/For never was a story of more woe __  
__than this of Juliet and her Romeo./  
  
_Feedback much appreciated


End file.
